Photorealism

Photorealism is the genre of painting based on making a painting of a photograph. The term is primarily applied to paintings from the United States photorealism art movement that began in the late 1960s, early 1970s. More recently, a splinter art movement called hyperrealism has developed.

tyle and history

As a full-fledged art movement, Photorealism evolved from Pop Art [Chase, Linda, Photorealism at the Millennium, "The Not-So-Innocent Eye: Photorealism in Context." Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 2002. pp 14-15.] [Nochlin, Linda, The Realist Criminal and the Abstract Law II, "Art In America." 61 (November - December 1973), P. 98.] and as a counter to Abstract Expressionism [Chase, Linda, Photorealism at the Millennium, "The Not-So-Innocent Eye: Photorealism in Context." Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 2002. pp 14-15.] [Nochlin, Linda, The Realist Criminal and the Abstract Law II, "Art In America." 61 (November - December 1973), P. 98.] as well as Minimalist art movements [Fleming, John and Honour, Hugh "The Visual Arts: A History," 3rd Edition. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 1991. p. 709] [Chase, Linda, Photorealism at the Millennium, "The Not-So-Innocent Eye: Photorealism in Context." Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 2002. pp 14-15.] [Nochlin, Linda, The Realist Criminal and the Abstract Law II, "Art In America." 61 (November - December 1973), P. 98.] [Battock, Gregory. Preface to "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1980. pp 8-10.] in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States. [Battock, Gregory. Preface to "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1980. pp 8-10.] It is also sometimes labeled as Super-Realism, New Realism, Sharp Focus Realism, or Hyper-Realism. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 12.] The Photorealist genre is predominately made up of painters. The word "Photorealism" was coined by Louis K. Meisel in 1968 and appeared in print for the first time in 1970 in a Whitney Museum catalogue for the show "Twenty-two Realists." [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 12.]

Louis K. Meisel, two years later, developed a five-point definition at the request of Stuart M. Speiser, who had commissioned a large collection of works by the Photorealists, which later developed into a traveling show known as "Photo-Realism 1973: The Stuart M. Speiser Collection," which was donated to the Smithsonian in 1978 and is shown in several of its museums as well as traveling under the auspices of SITE. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 12.] The definition was as follows:

1. The Photo-Realist uses the camera and photograph to gather information.
2. The Photo-Realist uses a mechanical or semimechanical means to transfer the information to the canvas.
3. The Photo-Realist must have the technical ability to make the finished work appear photographic.
4. The artist must have exhibited work as a Photo-Realist by 1972 to be considered one of the central Photo-Realists.
5. The artist must have devoted at least five years to the development and exhibition of Photo-Realist work. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 13.]

Photorealist painting cannot exist without the photograph. In Photorealism, change and movement must be frozen in time which must then be accurately represented by the artist. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 13.] Photorealists gather their imagery and information with the camera and photograph. Once the photograph is developed (usually onto a photographic slide) the artist will systematically transfer the image from the photographic slide onto canvases. This is done by either projecting the slide or grid techniques. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 14.] The resulting images are often direct copies of the original photograph but are usually larger than the original photograph or slide. This results in the photorealist style being tight and precise, often with an emphasis on imagery that requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate, such as reflections in specular surfaces and the geometric rigor of man-made environs. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980. p. 15.]

20th century photorealism can be contrasted with the similarly literal style found in "trompe l'oeil" paintings of the 19th century. However, "trompe l'oeil" paintings tended to be carefully designed, very shallow-space still-lifes, employing illusionistic devices such as the use of shadows to cause small objects to appear to exist above the surface of the painting. ("Trompe l'oeil" literally means "fool the eye.") The photorealism movement moved beyond this illusionism to tackle deeper spatial representations (e.g. urban landscapes) and took on much more varied and dynamic subject matter.

Artists

The first generation of American photorealists includes such painters as Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Charles Bell, Audrey Flack, Don Eddy, Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, and Richard McLean. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980.] Duane Hanson and John DeAndrea were the sculptors associated with photorealism famous for amazingly life-like painted sculptures of average people that were complete with simulated hair and real clothes. They were called "Verists." [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980.] Often working independently of each other and with widely different starting points, photorealists routinely tackled mundane or familiar subjects in traditional art genres--landscapes (mostly urban rather than naturalistic), portraits, and still lifes. They essentially evolved from Pop art and carried Pop Art's return to imagery to its ultimate possibilities. [Meisel, Louis K. "Photorealism". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 1980.]

At the Millennium

The height of the original photorealism movement was in the mid-1970s but the early 1990s saw a re-birth of interest in the genre. This renewed interest included original artists from the "first generation" as well as many younger photorealists. The evolution of photorealism brought an emergence of an advanced form of photorealistic painting; sometimes known as "Hyperrealism." [Chase, Linda, Photorealism at the Millennium, The Not-So-Innocent Eye: Photorealism in Context. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 2002.] With the new technology in cameras and digital equipment, these artists are able to be far more precision-oriented than their predecessors. Although the original tradition of Photorealism is a frame of reference for the artists, they incorporate more detailed references in their work by use of better technology. [Chase, Linda, Photorealism at the Millennium, The Not-So-Innocent Eye: Photorealism in Context. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 2002.] Many of the new Photorealists are building upon the foundation set by the original photorealists and the likenesses of their predecessors can be seen in such works by Photorealists Clive Head, Glennray Tutor, Kim Mendenhall, Raphaella Spence, Denis Peterson, Bertrand Meniel, Roberto Bernardi, Gottfried Helnwein, Bernardo Torrens, and Tony Brunelli. The re-birth of Photorealism has been apparent in both the United States and Europe with the Internet being a huge factor in the spread of the genre.

List of Photorealists

Original photorealists

*Robert Bechtle
*Charles Bell
*Tom Blackwell
*Hilo Chen
*Chuck Close
*Davis Cone
*Robert Cottingham
*Don Eddy
*Richard Estes
*Audrey Flack
*Ralph Goings
*John Kacere
*Ron Kleemann
*Richard McLean
*Malcolm Morley
*David Parrish
*John Salt
*Ben Schonzeit

Photorealists

*Linda Bacon
*John Baeder
*Arne Besser
*Anthony Brunelli
*John DeAndrea
*Randy Dudley
*Steven Fox
*Franz Gertsch
*Robert Gniewek
*Duane Hanson
*Clive Head
*Gus Heinze
*Gottfried Helnwein
*Ian Hornak
*Don Jacot
*Charles Jarboe
*Noel Mahaffey
*Dennis James Martin
*Jack Mendenhall
*Kim Mendenhall
*Betrand Meniel
*Reynard Milici
*Steve Mills
*Robert Neffson
*Jerry Ott
*Rod Penner
*Denis Peterson
*Raphaella Spence
*Paul Stager
*Robert Standish
*Bernardo Torrens
*Glennray Tutor
*Idelle Weber

References

Notes

General References

*"Photorealism" by Louis K. Meisel. Abradale/Abrams, New York, NY, (1989). ISBN 978-0 810980921
*"Photorealism Since 1980" by Louis K. Meisel. Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, (1993). ISBN 978-0810937208
*"Photorealism at the Millennium" by Louis K. Meisel and Linda Chase. Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, (2002). ISBN 978-0810934832
*"Photorealism: The Liff Collection" edited by Linda Chase. Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, (2001). ISBN 978-0970515810
*"Charles Bell: The Complete Works, 1970-1990 by Henry Geldzahler, Louis K. Meisel, Abrams New York, NY, (1991). ISBN 978-0810931141
*"Richard Estes: The Complete Paintings, 1966-1985 by Louis K. Meisel, John Perreault, Abrams New York, NY, (1986). ISBN 978-0810908816
*"Richard Estes," by John Wilmerding. Rizzoli, New York, NY, (2006). ISBN 978-0847828074
*"Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective" by Michael Auping, Janet Bishop, Charles Ray, and Jonathan Weinberg. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, (2005). ISBN 978-0520245433
*"Ralph Goings: Essay/Interview" by Linda Chase. Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, (1988). ISBN 978-0810910300
*"Peinture et Photographie" by Jean-Luc Chalumeau. Chêne, Paris, (2007). ISBN 978-284277731X

External links

* [http://www.meiselgallery.com/LKMG/flashIndex.html Louis K. Meisel Gallery]
* [http://www.okharris.com/ O.K. Harris Gallery]
* [http://hirshhorn.si.edu/education/modern/modern3.html Richard Estes information]
* [http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/ Chuck Close Online]
* [http://www.ralphlgoings.com/ Ralph Goings' website]
* [http://www.johnbaeder.com/ John Baeder]
* [http://www.AudreyFlack.com Audrey Flack's website]
* [http://www.neilmaccormick.com/ Neil MacCormick]
* [http://www.robertneffson.com/ Robert Neffson's Website]
* [http://www.rodpenner.com/ Rod Penner]
* [http://www.clivehead.co.uk/ Clive Head]
* [http://www.chiaraalbertoni.it/ Chiara Albertoni]
* [http://www.bernardotorrens.com/ Bernardo Torrens]
* [http://www.meiselgallery.com/cb/index.php Charles Bell]